A wide range of wind speeds is possible between tropical cyclones of minimal strength and the most intense ones on record, and tropical cyclones can cause damage ranging from the breaking of tree limbs to the destruction of mobile homes and small buildings. To aid in issuing warnings to areas that may be affected by a storm, and to indicate the severity of the potential threat, numerical rating systems have been developed based on a storm’s maximum wind speed and potential storm surge. For tropical systems in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific, the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale is used (see the